Truth
by Anastacia.AK
Summary: Manga-verse. Post Promised Day.  Explores two endings - the true ending, where ed has won and an alternate ending where Father wins.


Disclaimer: I do not own Greed, Father, Truth and Ed as they belong to Hiromu Arakawa.

Edit: The first part was changed to clarify it more. Thanks to **A2D the Colourblind Zebra** and **Lorelei Rinoa** for the reviews :D

Warning: Spoilers of the last episode/chapter of fullmetal alchemist.

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><p><strong>If the<strong>** original homunculus**** had won the battle**

**"Nothing makes us more vulnerable than ****_loneliness_****, except ****_greed_****." - Thomas Harris.**

**"The search for truth is more precious than its possession." - Albert Einstein**

Greed had recently developed a habit of wearing his hair out when he got up to the roof of what used to be the headquarters of the homunculi. When he was on the roof, he felt free and unrestrained, which was the whole point of being the sin that he was. To tie it up in Ling's style would've been wrong. It just wouldn't be right to let a part of himself be restrained like that. That's why when he was sitting on top the roof that night, his hair was let out loose. It had grown so long over time that it was whipping about his face and almost blinding him when the wind blew at him.

He reached out to the sky which was dotted about with stars that still existed. He closed his eyes wistfully. Greed pretended, for a moment, that he was king of the world.

Then a headache. In his head, Ling's voice was fighting its way to be heard. Greed subdued him in a second. _I thought I had gotten rid of him._ When Greed had been absorbed into Father because he required more power to defeat the fullmetal alchemist, Ling had refused to let go of Greed. At that time, Ling had also been absorbed into Father. Father had originally wanted to be the ultimate god, and for that he thought removing his sins would help. Only when he realised he needed more power he swallowed the philosopher's stones of the sins that were still alive, including Greed himself.

After swallowing Greed, Father had become insane. He rampaged and ate up everything around him indiscriminately until the whole world had been wiped out as a result. Father had no choice but to discharge Greed the moment he had come to his senses, which was after there was no creature in the world apart from himself.

When Greed was taken out, a weakened soul, Ling's soul, had seeped into him. That small part of the boy had been easy to control, and successfully subdued. It was however still alive. The Xingese boy had kicked his way out in Greed's weakest moments which must've meant that now was one of those moments too, because right now Ling's soul, and all its anger, was overwhelming Greed. Ling's voice was faintly heard:

_Your friends are all dead__. __What's the point of being the king of the world?_

The anger retreated, and sadness overcame him. Greed thought at first that the tears that welled his eyes were because Ling was upset, but when he found that all of his being was trembling uncontrollably – his lips, hands, legs and even his soul, he understood the sorrow as his own. He suddenly felt vulnerable to the watchful stars, so instinctively he covered his eyes with his arms so that the private pain he was feeling wouldn't be visible to the watchers.

Later that night, he went down the stairs to the basement, where Father was residing.

"Welcome home." Father said, smiling distractedly at him. Before the promised day, before Greed had rebelled against Father and left him for a century, Father would always ask where Greed had been to. There was no need to ask where Greed had been to this time, because wherever Greed went, he would always come back. Greed simply had nowhere else to return to.

'"I'm home, Father." In the basement were only him and his Father. Greed always wondered why Father hadn't take out all his sins as he did before.

Father had realised by this time that having his sins dispelled from him had no effect. Greed had proven that. Since for some reason, or perhaps because the original homunculus was like that, Father had a thirst for knowledge even when Greed was taken out of him. Yet Father would choose to evade the question if Greed had asked him about it.

_Father must feel lonely._ Greed used to think that the homunculi were his family. But by the time Greed realised he was looking for something more that his family couldn't provide, he had known that despite that, his family were still family. Yes, as he gained more power, money and women, he might've been a bit satisfied. But avarice would grasp hold of him again and then he would have unhappy, alternating lapses of greed and satisfaction. He was always restless. With his family though, he felt more of a something that might've been close to the satisfaction he was looking for. Now that Greed had lost all of his siblings, this was becoming clearer to him. As if on cue, Ling's words came alive about in his head:

_Your friends are all dead. What's the point of being king of the world?_

_What do you mean, Ling?_

No reply. Greed hadn't expected an answer though. But already his head had was attempting to explain it, and it did that by rephrasing the information in steps:

_What's the point of being king of the world when your friends aren't here anymore?_

And then:

_What's the point of wanting to do all these things, gain the things you want, when your friends aren't here with you anymore?_

That's right. Greed didn't really _want _to be king of the world. All he _wanted _were his comrades. He only _wanted_ those things because he just _wanted_ to mean something to people he cared about.

… He just wanted to go back to them.

Father… for whatever reason he was locking all these souls up without taking them out, it was clear that he wasn't taking Greed back. And maybe it was merely because Father was afraid that he'd go insane again.

But then… Father was so sure that once he obtained the world, he'd obtain the truth. But to what end? Whether he got the truth that he wanted or not, Father, sitting on his throne, seemed very unhappy. Greed thought that the reason Father didn't want to have Greed back might also be because avarice brought with it a feeling of loneliness which Father would then have to live with.

"Father."

"Yes?"

"I know this is sudden, but I have a question. Then I also have a request to make, Father."

"Go ahead."

"Why won't you ever try to have a family again, Father?"

"That's odd coming from you, Greed."

"I know, but why?"

"… I don't want to answer that. What about the request you were talking about."

"Absorb me, Father. I want… no, I _need_ to be with my friends who you have absorbed."

A sudden fear was in Father's eyes, but it passed quickly.

"Alright then, son."

Surprised at the easy assent, Greed realised how Father had become softer. And this, despite having all those other 6 sins inside him. It could've just been because of the gentle souls he absorbed that softened him a bit, but perhaps… just perhaps, his siblings were calling to him. And son… was that a term that Father used to him often? He had forgotten… and perhaps he didn't care anymore because now his mind was going blank…

From that night on, Father was the only creature in the world.

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><p><strong>The true ending where<strong>** alchemist Edward Elric****wins****the battle**

**"The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world" - Max Born**

The original homunculus could never beat truth. He had tried to get rid of his human emotions, and all that for what? It only meant that he was hiding himself from learning what the world was like. Truth sighed. He looked up at the tremble in energy about him. Another foolish creature would appear in front of him, and truth would have to give him a lesson to learn. Like he did with the homunculus.

However…

"Are you sure about this?" Truth asked the blonde-haired alchemist who was about to give up his alchemist powers, as toll for his brother's body.

Ed grinned cheekily.

"Yes. Even without alchemy, I'll still have my friends!"

"That's the right answer, alchemist. Congratulations. You have beaten truth."

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><p><em>I just wanted to create a piece that could look at 2 different endings. To be honest, I think FMA had the perfect ending. I couldn't have had it another way - I think if the Father HAD won, it would be <em>_somewhat __depressing. I used the quotes as my inspirations._

_I ask reviewers to give me fair criticism as well as praise because it __will help me improve my writing, and show you something better in the future. Thank you._


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